Saturday town meeting will get a shot

Selectmen Monday said the annual town meeting scheduled for Monday, May 4, will be called to order and a motion will be made to postpone it to Saturday, May 9, to see if that will draw more attendance and discussion.

"The only way this will work is if we get a quorum and the voters agree to postpone. If we do get a quorum, they can chose to vote for the meeting to continue, and then only a handful of voters decide the budget. However, if we get a quorum and they postpone or we don't get a quorum, we would go to Saturday," Selectman Mike Quinlivan said.

Quinlivan opposed asking the voters to postpone the meeting until Saturday, but the vote passed as both selectmen Fred Goodrich and Jack Malone were in favor. Therefore, the first question on the May town floor that Monday evening will be to postpone the meeting until Saturday.

Goodrich also noted that the moderator suggested all votes be done by ballot.

"This would draw meetings out to be very long, but may allow people to vote their choice rather than with the majority," he said. "Our ultimate goal is to get folks to understand the plight of the town and how dire our budget is."

To that end, School Superintendent Dr. Thomas Pandiscio will meet with the selectmen and Finance Committee on Tuesday, March 10, at 7 p.m.

"I certainly hope the public will make an appearance at the meeting," Malone said.

"Our goal is to get Wachusett level-funded or lower, but we'll see," Goodrich added.

After a brief discussion the selectmen have decided that the polls for the upcoming elections will remain open during their usual hours from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. rather than noon to 8 p.m.

The proposal for a change was made by Town Clerk Dee Malone, who said it would reduce the cost of lunches for poll workers and for a police officer at the polling site.

Goodrich was concerned about potentially losing early morning voters on their way to work, but noted statistics show the work crowd generally votes in the evening.

Quinlivan said it's important that everyone who wants to vote gets that chance.

"I think this is a philosophical issue for me. I want to make sure that everyone who can vote has the opportunity to, whether they chose to use it or not. Why not tie [town elections] into the elections in November and therefore eliminate much of the cost," he asked.

"Changing the elections is against our bylaws," said Malone.

"I'd rather try to streamline with the state even if that does mean a charter change. My guess is that if we do change, we'll get more input on town elections and that would be a good thing," Quinlivan said.

The vote was 1 to 1 with Malone abstaining, Quinlivan opposed and Goodrich in favor. Since the measure did not pass, voting will remain from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. for the upcoming municipal election.